Originally Posted by
cmtlatitudes
I looked at the Wiki - (which the Wiki section itself mostly seems to be deleted?) All there is, is a blurb about the One World departure, and the following statement:
LATAM must give notice one year prior to departure. AA has apparently already pulled its codeshares operated by LATAM. The ability to use AA miles to fly LATAM on awards could also end before LATAM departs oneworld.
Is this expected/anticipated?
Now that I realize the entire Wiki has been removed, I'm more concerned about going forward with an expensive trip based on a LATAM award ticket. And I haven't seen any posts encouraging folks to use miles for LATAM awards while the opportunity remains, which seems somewhat odd under the circumstances (if award tickets weren't an uncertainty). Most of the LATAM posting has dried up completely. Any insights/thoughts -- thanks.
Well, I didn't get any takers on requests for thoughts -- unusual for FlyerTalk where posters usually can't wait to tell people what they think - lol - but will share my experience in case it's helpful to anyone FWIW.
This morning I was able to book to an Award on LATAM for August 2020. The agent I got was helpful, courteous, pleasant, and efficient. This was a happy bonus, as I already felt extremely lucky, as my wait time for an agent was literally about 90 seconds. She was able to see availability on my date after I told her I'd seen the availability on BA. She was able to complete the reservation on her end, even securing me a window seat. I asked how long the flight might take to ticket. (Mainly because of breathing easier once actually issued, due to the situation with LATAM.) She put me on hold for a bit, came back and said it might take awhile (days+) due to being so far out (Aug). OK, no problem, assumed it might be. But ---- Flight ticket confirmation received 40 minutes later from AA. Entire process was 65 minutes start to finish.
So, the couple interesting notes. The first thing the agent said, when I asked to the award, was "we're not going to be partnering with LATAM any longer". (She said it nicely.) I told her I saw the availability on BA, and asked if there was a cutoff date for booking Award flights, and whether those already booked would be honored. She found the flight availability, but seemed quite surprised the system let her book it. In fact she proactively stopped the process twice to check with someone else about the cutoff date / policy on Awards - she seemed really surprised the system was letting her book it. She didn't specifically say, but I could tell from her trying to confirm dates, she didn't expect to be able to book an Award at all on LATAM, and did not want to set a customer up for later disappointment. So much so that she proactively put me on hold a second time to try to confirm again with someone else. Both times the Agent came back on and said no one seemed to be able to find or confirm any policy guidance or dates with regard to LATAM Awards, either for booking or honoring down the road. Then she said that perhaps AA and LATAM were still negotiating Awards, and she thought it'd probably end up being OK either way, if I actually received a ticket confirmation from AA from her booking. That LATAM and AA would honor it.
So.... I'm not entirely comfortable the Award won't still be cancelled at some point by AA. But right now I am happy and still blinking to have scored a Business class Award for IPC !!
Fingers Crossed....